THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE TO PROTECT THEIR RIGHTS NOW.

BRUXELLES, 1st October 2013. AEGEE-Europe, together with 10 youth organizations from all over Europe, has launched the campaign YouthRights.NOW for the recognition of specific rights for youth. These youth rights include education and training, employment, housing, health and the right to a healthy environment, participation, sexual and reproductive health, culture and sport, non-discrimination, as wells as proper information on youth policies and its implementation.

In the current situation, these rights are being violated with worrying frequency, therefore this call for action to increase the protection of one of the collectives more severely affected by the current economic and social crisis in Europe. You can read more about the campaign in the website www.youthrights.eu

This campaign is the outcome of a meeting of youth organizations in Strasbourg last April. During this meeting, they developed this campaign led by young people who want to improve the reality. All organizations involved are committed to bring this discussion on the political agenda, and will participate in mobilising the youth sector to make them aware of their rights and to invite them to claim for a bigger protection in Europe. The situation is very different across our continent and this has to be changed because “youth rights should not depend on which passport you carry”, according to Luis Alvarado Martínez, president of AEGEE-Europe.

The campaign addresses the Council of Europe, the continent’s leading human rights organisation. It includes 47 member states, including the 28 members of the European Union. Their Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) has discussed previously the topic and issued several recommendations, but the opposition of some countries has made impossible the adoption of a stronger position in the Committee of Ministers. The YouthRights.NOW campaign aims to gather support from all European youth to convince the Council of Europe of the need of this recognition without further delay.

This campaign is launched by the European Students’ Forum (AEGEE-Europe), the Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions (OBESSU), Young European Federalists (JEF-Europe), the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Youth and Student Organization (IGLYO), the European Federation for Intercultural Learning (EFIL), Youth for Exchange and Understanding International (YEU), the World Esperanto Youth Organisation (TEJO), the Portuguese Youth Council (CNJ), the Flemish youth council (VJR), MUSE-E-Kosovo, and the European Law Students Associaction (ELSA) as legal advisor; it is supported by the European Youth Forum (YFJ) and the Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe.

AEGEE-Europe gathers 13000 students in 200 cities of 40 European countries and is the biggest interdisciplinary student organization in Europe.